Fenty Beauty by Rihanna Killawatt Freestyle Highlighter Duo in Girl Next Door/Chic Phreak and Ginger Binge/Moscow Mule

on
Tuesday, November 14, 2017

In September, Rihanna launched her cosmetics line called Fenty Beauty, which caused something of an explosion in the makeup industry and online beauty community as everybody went crazy over it; there was no social media platform that wasn't saturated in photos, videos, reviews, and swatches of Fenty Beauty products. Rihanna has stated that "Fenty Beauty was created for everyone: for women of all shades, personalities, attitudes, cultures, and races. I wanted everyone to feel included; that's the real reason I made this line." Rihanna launched a base range of seven makeup formulations and six makeup tools that, with the exception of a single lip gloss, are focused on skin. 


This range includes four dual shades of Killawatt Freestyle Highlighter, which is described as "a weightless, long-wear cream-to-powder hybrid" that "ranges from subtle day glow to insanely super-charged shades that were designed for all skin tones." It "keeps skin lit beyond sundown with its weightless long-wear formula… that instantly melts into skin and blends with almost zero effort." They are housed in a white mirrored octagonal compacts with the Fenty Beauty logo in grey on the lid, with secondary packaging that features a black-and-white graffiti design. Each Killawatt Freestyle Highlighter Duo contains a total of 7 grams of product (3.5 grams per shade) and retails for $42. In North America, Fenty Beauty is available exclusively in-store and online at Sephora, and online at Fenty Beauty.

Girl Next Door/Chic Phreak and Ginger Binge/Moscow Mule

In daylight: Girl Next Door/Chic Phreak and Ginger Binge/Moscow Mule

In direct sunlight: Girl Next Door/Chic Phreak and Ginger Binge/Moscow Mule

Girl Next Door is a light-medium warm muted shell pink in a soft pearlized finish. This is a permanent shade. It has a soft, finely-milled texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has medium-high pigmentation and semi-opaque to opaque buildable colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is lighter and more pink than Fenty Beauty Chic Phreak, lighter and more pink than Too Faced Ray of Light, more pink than MAC Soft and Gentle, darker than Anastasia Beverly Hills Crushed Pearl (Gleam), and darker and less metallic than Anastasia Beverly Hills Kitty Kat (Nicole Guerriero).
Chic Phreak is a medium warm peachy pink with soft rose gold shimmer in a metallic finish. This is a permanent shade. It has a soft, finely-milled texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is darker and more peach than Fenty Beauty Girl Next Door, darker and more pink than MAC Beaming Blush, more pink than MAC New Romance, lighter and more pink than Becca Rose Gold, and more peach than Anastasia Beverly Hills Hard Candy (Gleam).
Ginger Binge is a medium-dark warm pinked copper with a soft rose gold shimmer-sheen in a soft pearlized finish. This is a permanent shade. It has a soft, finely-milled texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is lighter and more pinked than Fenty Beauty Moscow Mule, more peach than MAC Hushed Tone, darker and more copper than MAC Just a Pinch, lighter and more pink than Becca Blushed Copper, and lighter and more pink than Becca Songbird.
Moscow Mule is a medium-dark warm reddish copper with copper and rose gold shimmer in a metallic finish. This is a permanent shade. It has a soft, finely-milled texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is darker and more red than Fenty Beauty Ginger Binge, more sparkly than MAC Hushed Tone, lighter and more sparkly than MAC Hard to Get, more golden and more sparkly than Ciate Date Night, and more sparkly than Becca Blushed Copper.

I realize that I'm posting this review two months after these launched and there are hundreds of reviews for these highlighters out now, but I figured I'd put in my two cents because I've been wearing these for a several weeks and have really given them a solid test run (plus, I already took the photos). First, I want to note that these are not cream-to-powder. They are a soft, finely-milled powder so they feel creamy, but they function and apply as powders. I say this because that description of "cream-to-powder" almost deterred me from checking these out as I am strictly a powder girl. So in case there are people like me out there, I just wanted to clarify that. Each of the highlighter duos comes with one shade that is softer and more subtle with a muted pearlized sheen, and one shade that is more intense and saturated with a strong metallic finish. In theory, this provides more options for the consumer: the more muted shade is ideal for areas like under the brow or cupid's bow or the nose bridge, where you don't necessarily want a beaming highlight, and the stronger metallic shade is great for cheekbones and inner corner highlights.

However, the flaw in execution here is that the consumer looking for that beaming, high-shine highlight is only going to like the right-side pan of these duos, and likewise, the consumer looking for a soft, subtle highlight is only going to like the left-side pan. I feel like the majority of people won't use both shades in each compact; they'll generally favour one more than the other, leaving the other shade wasted. I do wish these highlighters had come out as singles for this reason. That having been said, all the shades here are smooth, finely-milled, and creamy. They apply evenly and really do look stunning on the skin, especially with Chic Phreak and Moscow Mule looking almost wet on the skin. I will note that Ginger Binge/Moscow Mule are more like illuminating blushes than true highlighters on all skintones except for deep dark (e.g. NC55/NW45 and darker), in which case they leave the most stunning rose gold sheen. As blushes, Ginger Binge/Moscow Mule look absolutely gorgeous. It's actually the duo that I'm most impressed with. Overall, if you like variety in tone and finish with your highlighters (or blushes, depending on your skintone!), then these Fenty Beauty duos are worth checking out. But there are plenty of dupes for all of these shades out there, so if you know you like one shade or finish more than the other, I would look elsewhere to get more bang for your buck.
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